No One Else Can
by Trinity23Rose
Summary: When Nora finds out that Reverse Flash killed her grandmother, she realizes how stupid she was to trust him. 5x08 inspired.


When Nora finds out that Reverse Flash killed her grandmother, she realizes how stupid she was to trust him. 5x08 inspired.

* * *

Nora West-Allen felt like the last fool that ever walked this Earth, no matter the timeline or the universe.

How on earth could she think that aligning herself with the Reverse Flash was a good idea was beyond her now, but she was naïve and wanted to spend some time with her father more than anything, especially when he was gone and her mother betrayed her. So she did ran back in time, came across the Reverse Flash and ran him to the future. She promised to free him once he helped her and just now she was starting to see the error of her ways. Yes, time was malleable. Yes, she could travel back without any consequences as long as she didn't change anything vital. In the end, though, she started to see how wrong she'd been and what a mistake it truly was. She didn't regret the time she'd had so far with her dad. She'd never regret it, but to get there, to get to all those specific points in the timeline, she needed help. And Reverse Flash was more than happy to oblige, of course for a price.

Now that she knew everything, she was terrified what that price could actually be.

"One more thing…" she hesitated when their conversation more or less came to an end. "Why did you tell me to stop Caitlin and Harry? Why that night? The coffee?"

Eobard smirked on the other side of the glass.

"Come on, I know you're a silly girl, but you can't be _that_ blind."

"You never wanted them to get together, did you? But why? Wait… you're in love with her, aren't you?" she then gasped, the puzzles all fitting together as she'd seen the way Eobard looked at Caitlin the night of the particle accelerator explosion.

Thawne only nodded.

"That night…" he started and shook his head, "Harry Wells was ready to move on, feeling free and happy after the conversation he had with his daughter and Caitlin… Caitlin needed someone to open up to regarding Killer Frost and Wells always understood her so well. Almost like me. You see, out of all the Harrison Wellses out there, that one was the biggest threat, he could so easily win her heart. That night the window was open and I couldn't let that happen."

"But why?" Nora frowned. "How can you be so cruel? If Caitlin never loved you, why don't you want her to just be happy?"

"Because if I couldn't have her, then no one else can, especially not some other version of Harrison Wells. He had his chance that night, but he's a short-tempered man, so all it took was you interrupting and he ran away, retreating to the comfort of his workshop, retreating to planning how to defeat DeVoe and as a result, he destroyed himself."

"You see, I don't think his lack of high intelligence would matter to Caitlin in the end."

"Caitlin Snow is the most remarkable woman I have _ever_ met and she deserves the _best_."

"But that could never be _you_ ," Nora just said and ran back to the past before Thawne could say anything else.

* * *

"I made a big, big mistake," Nora was just confessing to the team when appearing in the cortex. She hated to rain on their parade again, especially as they were so enthusiastic to have discovered that Killer Frost could take down Cicada.

"Wait… I'm confused… you already said that…" Cisco said, thinking hard. "Oh, no! Please, don't tell us there's a glitch in the timeline again! We were so careful choosing the right events and…" he started immediately.

"No!" Nora denied just then. "It's not that. There's… um…" She suddenly looked down at the floor, not able to confess her biggest secret to her parents, to _Caitlin_. She was so ashamed of her actions, especially when she found out that the Reverse Flash killed her father's mother, therefore ridding an 11 years old boy of a parent. She knew how it felt. And now that she'd gotten to know her dad, she couldn't imagine losing him _again_.

"Nora, what is it?" Barry got concerned, getting up from his seat and coming over to her.

"Yes, Nora, you can tell us anything," Iris encouraged, making her way to her daughter as well.

"But this is… awful. I can't… I mean… I am so, so sorry. I didn't mean to! I was so stupid!" Tears came and she covered her face with her hands. "I'm so sorry!"

"About what?" that was Caitlin and it only made Nora feel worse.

"Why don't you just tell us who are you really working for?" Sherloque asked in that moment and everyone looked at him. "What? I'm a master detective. I've discovered she's been working with someone, the speed force symbols she's been scribbling in her diary a testament to that. I also saw her sneaking into the… How do you call it? Time vault? Yes? So, she was there."

"Reverse Flash," Nora finally revealed and there was sudden silence.

"Shut up!" Cisco finally exclaimed, his eyes opening widely.

"What?!" Barry was shocked. "Nora! What are you…? _What_?!"

"I can explain…"

* * *

"Caitlin! _Caitlin_!" she could hear Cisco calling after her, but she couldn't possibly stop. It was too much. Too much information. Too much… _regret_.

Nora West-Allen had just confessed to ruining Caitlin Snow's life.

Yes, Cait wasn't exaggerating, because if she were to be honest, after Ronnie's death and failed relationships that had seemed like a good idea at the time but never felt truly right, she was pretty sure she'd never find anyone ever again. The fact that the one man she found herself wanting more and more seemed not to be interested in her that way, keeping their relationship strictly platonic, didn't help. In the end, she made her peace with it, she accepted that she would forever stay single, glad to at least have Killer Frost back as her life companion.

Her feelings for Harry had always been complicated and they're always been there. At first, she'd denied them, told herself she was foolish, that it was a silly crush, that she couldn't possibly fall for someone biologically identical to the dr. Wells she'd used to work for. Yet, she did. In Harry she seemed to have found everything – understanding, bond, support. He made her happy, he made her want to try again despite her awful dating history and what was most important – he made her believe it would work, that he was actually _the one_. She'd never seen that coming, yet if it actually happened, she would have so, so much more than she dared dream of.

Of course, it didn't work out.

At least she thought he only truly cared for Jesse.

Until _now._

What was she supposed to do with this newly found information anyway?! How was she supposed to react to the news that Eobard Thawne, even after he was long gone, was still effectively ruining her life? The irony was obvious. He could've prevented Ronnie's death. He shouldn't have interfered with Harry through Nora.

Caitlin didn't grieve for Ronnie anymore and truth be told, now that she was actually in love with Harry, she saw that what she'd taken for love years ago wasn't nearly as strong. She was young and inexperienced and naïve, yes and her relationship with Ronnie would've probably ended, but the man so did not deserve to die!

And now… God, what was she supposed to do _now_?!

 _Doofus. Just go over to his earth and tell him,_ she suddenly heard Killer Frost's voice in her head.

"Not now! Leave me alone!"

" _Snow_?"

She stilled, her body started shaking ever more than it did after Nora told her the truth with tears in her eyes, begging for her forgiveness and asking what she could do to fix this.

Only there was nothing she could actually do. If she travelled back again to undo the damage, it might have disastrous consequences and Caitlin knew well that they couldn't afford that. They could only move forward.

So she ran. Left the room. Ignoring Cisco calling after her.

And now she was standing in the round corridor of S.T.A.R. Labs, hearing Harry's voice and probably going out of her mind.

"Snow. _Caitlin,"_ he then spoke again and she fisted her hands before bracing herself and finally turning around.

It was Harry, indeed.

She would recognize him everywhere despite the multiple doppelgangers of his that she'd already encountered and was probably yet to meet.

"Harry?" she asked in a broken voice, suddenly wiping out the tears from her face as she didn't even realize they were there. "Is that really you? What are you doing here? How?"

"Cisco," he said as though it was all the explanation she needed and it was, really. "Well, and… West-Allen junior."

"Oh, God," Caitlin groaned, turning around again and placing her hands on her face. How long it's been since she left the cortex? She must've lost the track of time, feeling all shaky and going out of her mind.

"Caitlin, I'm here," she then heard his voice again and this time from closer. Before she knew it, he was standing behind her and then his hands gently turned her back to face him and she found herself being closed in his arms. "They told me everything. I'm sorry I was so stupid."

She nearly laughed straight into his chest, but the close proximity to his prevented her from it. Instead she just hugged him back, putting her own arms around his middle and breathing him in, consequences be damned. Being with him came so natural to her that she couldn't mistake this for anything else but true love. He was her soulmate and once that realization finally dawned on her, she felt serenity washing over her as though everything was right in the universe again because he was there.

"Why did it take a simple coffee spill?" she asked and he knew exactly what she meant.

"Come on, Snow, have you met me?" he asked, pulling away and keeping her at his arms' length so he could look her in the eye, his own intense blues taking her breath away there for a moment. "I was insecure. I never thought I could have you. I thought I wasn't worthy, that you were too amazing, too beautiful, too young to ever want a wreck like me."

"You were never a wreck. You're the man my heart chose," she confessed, feeling like she could let everything that was holding her back go. He was already here. It spoke mountains.

He chuckled nervously, trying not to smile, but in the end he couldn't help it. He sighed after and asked in a deep, throaty voice when running his hands up and down her arms. "So… what are we going to do now?"

"It depends."

"On?"

"On you staying. Are you here to stay, Harry?" she asked in a shaky voice, scared of the answer, but in the same time ready to tell him she'd go anywhere with him. She'd abandon the team and move to Earth 2 if needed. She just needed her happy ending and she needed it now.

"Yes," he answered to her relief. "I love my daughter, but the sad fact is that she doesn't exactly need me there so much anymore and I can't run the Labs without my PhDs."

"Hey," Caitlin immediately followed with when reaching up to cup his face, "you'll never be any less of a man to me just because you lost that. You have always been and will be _everything_. There," she smiled awkwardly with embarrassment clear on her face, "said it."

In response, he only smiled and then he was cupping her face too and pressing his lips against her own and everything was right in the universe again.

They didn't see Nora watching them from behind the corner with a sad smile on her face. There was still so much she needed to fix and this, this was just the beginning, the easiest thing, actually, but she would be damned if she didn't finish her job. She should have never trusted the Reverse Flash.


End file.
